E. B. Bird: his book plates

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http://www.archive.org/details/ebbirdhisbookplaOObirdrich

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11

OMPARATIVELY speaking the designs of
Mr* Bird show a marked tendency towards the
photogravure or copper plate rather than the
zinc etching. The primary motive of all artists
is to have their work reproduced in a manner
best calculated to bring out truthfully the va-
rious details of the design, and the photogravure
process seems to be perhaps the best method, as,
if the drawing is in wash it will give the same
subdued coloring, with a certain richness in the
tones, or if in pen and ink will, while giving the
bright line of the pen, add to it a softness that
is approached by no other method except pos-
sibly by the dry point etching. Two of his de-
signs have been engraved on copper and make
very handsome finished plates, but in both cases
the feeling of the design instilled from the indi-
viduality of the artist is lost through hand en-
graving by another who has consciously or un-
consciously incorporated more or less of his own

idcsLS into the design in the rendition of the artist's ^ -

color, which in the original drawing was in wash
while in the finished engraved plate it h hatched
without the fine gradation of color which the
original called for. This can be readily seen
by glancing over the plates shown in the fol-
lowing pages ; take any of the photogravures,
for instance, and compare it with the Whiting
plate, and it will at once be seen that the indi-
viduality of the artist is somewhat lessened and
merged into that of the engraver, the mere shell
of the artist's work remaining, while the engrav-
er is practically but the reproducer, in much the
same manner as is the photo-engraven

By this I do not mean to say that a design
cannot be executed in an acceptable manner.
The Whiting plate is a beautiful piece of engrav-
ing, and shows the hand of a master in this
respect, but it does not reflect the full individ-
uality and color effect of the artist's original
drawing, rather it gives one the impression that
it had been engraved from a pen and ink design
which had very little color in it.

The foregoing does not mean that Mr, Bird
draws only for the photogravure process and
engraved copper plate. That is merely his
preference, and not everybody cares to go to the
expense of a copper plate, but must be contented

with a zinc etching, of which there arc some
few in the following pages*

Mr. Bird is really a decorative artist as distin-
guished from an illustrative artist. All his
designs have a strong decorative feeling, as well
as his lettering* The designs all exude decor-
ation, but without being flagrant ; his idea of
this is that decoration has a definite place in a
book-plate if only for its enriching power, if
not used in such a way as to make the salient
features of the design subservient to it. The
application of this can best be seen in the plates
for Frank Wood, Charles H. Taylor, Harold
D. Holmes and some others.

In a cursory glance over the book-plate field
here in America it seems to me that the plates
are largely the work of so-called decorative de-
signers, most of whose work is strictly in the
mercantile line, and it is a question whether a
man the bulk of whose work is for mercantile
purposes can be as effective in the designing of
book-plates which require idealism and person-
ality, as well as strong inventive powers. From
the knowledge that I have of the plates of this
country, I should take the negative side, with
but few exceptions. It must be borne in mind,
however, that the artist is not always free to
use his own ideas on a plate, but is hampered by

too many suggfestions from the prospective own-
er* In this connection compare the plate of
Frank Wood with the landscape plate of the
writer* In the former, the designer was held
down to certain things, the ttse of the books, in
their peculiar position, the arms and quotation,
etc*, while in my plate there were no suggestions
from me whatever, and the result is that as an
artistic book-plate it is one of the best if not the
best Mr*Bird has made* There is a freedom about
it and a sincerity quite refreshing, and it is per-
sonal in the introduction of the woodland dale,
the reader in the fork of the tree and the jester
fooling with art* The Wood plate is not so
free and lacks the life of the other* There is
no necessity for laborious displays of books on
a book-plate, and Mr* Bird has not introduced
them except where compelled to do so by the
owner, or as an ornamentation, as in the Holmes
plate* The lettering on all the plates is pretty
much the same, but it is readable which is the
principal thing; freakish letters have no proper
place on a book-plate*

Mr* Bird is a Boston man, and a graduate of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and
from his experience there gained his first knowl-
edge of light and shade, the handling of color,
and systems of pen work* After his graduation

he became head designer fot the Boston Photo-
gtavure Gjmpany and later was with the Art
Publishing Company, which he left to go into
business for himselL His first large order was
the embellishment of '^Famous Composers and
Their Work*^

While at the Institute he was always asso-
ciated with the college publications, and has
assisted in the illustration, and superintended the
issue of many college annuals throughout the
country* During the recent poster craze he was
one of the foremost designers, his bold style be-
ing very convincing* He has also an enviable
reputation as a cartoonist, being at the head of
this branch of art on football matters*

His ideas in book-plate making are to get
away from the old rectangular shape and gen-
eral ideas taken by most designers and turn out
something new both in shape and handling of
the subject.

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